


More Than This

by groffiction



Category: Dredd (2012), Midnight Special (2016), Star Wars Sequel Trilogy
Genre: Angst, Both boys are shy and awkward but adorable, Eventual Explicit sexual content, Extraterrestrial Techie, Fluff, M/M, Nerd Paul - Freeform, Not that I am complaining, Slow Burn, Thanks to Jathis Techie has more bird type of characteristics, Totally blame you Jathis for all the fluff, Winged Techie, X-Files themes but Paul doesn't have a partner, mentions of past violence, will add more tags later if needed
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-05-26
Updated: 2018-05-26
Packaged: 2019-05-13 23:10:54
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 6,124
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14758065
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/groffiction/pseuds/groffiction
Summary: Paul Sevier goes on another assignment for an investigation at a top secret Government laboratory in Washington State not far from Mt. St. Helens. It is there he finds out that his role in this investigation is to talk to an extraterrestrial known simply as Project Blue Fox (Techie) and try to find out if this creature is a threat to Earth. While there he finds out just how corrupt this laboratory is and the doctors that run it. During this time he starts caring about the blue winged creature, and Techie starts caring for him in turn. If they can escape without getting caught, where can they hide? Where can they go so Techie can be safe?**Major thanks to @solohux for putting me in the right direction to watch Midnight Special in the first place (and totally falling for Paul omg) and @jathis for giving me so many fluffy cute scene ideas for the boys. You guys ROCK MY WORLD!





	More Than This

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Jathis](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Jathis/gifts), [solohux](https://archiveofourown.org/users/solohux/gifts).



> ***FYI, some scenes were heavily inspired by the lovely @jathis (for future chapters). So, when those start happening, I will of course reference her as the one to mostly write Techie's point of view. Thank you hon!
> 
> Hope you all enjoy this new pairing. I am calling it Sevtech :) Don't hesitate to visit my tumblr!
> 
> Name of the fic is inspired by [More Than This](https://youtu.be/cY75xrmvxPE) by the Cure, which is coincidentally used on the X-Files: Fight the Future soundtrack. :)

### Prologue:

“So, I’ve arrived,” Paul Sevier said, trying to juggle his over stuffed duffel, backpack, black briefcase, cell phone, and coffee as he tried to swipe the key unsuccessfully to his motel room. “Flight was delayed by a few hours, but that’s normal this time a year. Lot of pacific northwest storms wrecking havoc on flights, etcetera.”

Hissing a soft curse under his breath, Paul paused to look around to make sure no one was around to hear. Not that it should have mattered. Still, he couldn’t help feeling a prickling sensation crawling all over his skin as if someone was watching him. Narrowing his eyes carefully through his glasses, Paul caught sight of a security camera nearby and breathed a sigh of relief. 

Ever since what had happened with Alton ten months past, the NSA communications analyst couldn’t help looking over his shoulder more often, or being hyper aware of his surroundings. Being a part of the NSA, Paul had gotten used to being watched all the time, regardless of if he was at work or home. He’d had to get used to it in order to work for the government, no matter which field. 

But, what was making Paul’s skin crawl more often now was the fact that a species of other life forms living in a different world on a different realm than Earth was watching them. Now, he felt like he was even more of an insect beneath a microscope. It was still a tough pill to swallow. But, he couldn’t deny what had happened. Nor could he deny that he had kind of envied Alton. Not because of his powers – oh no, that poor boy had dealt with far too much pain and suffering in his young life before he had left, but because Alton was now exploring a new world with new sights and sounds.

New people to get used to. _His own people,_ Paul supposed.

It had been horrible that his family hadn’t been able to go with him. However, Paul was making sure that he kept his mouth shut about his experience and involvement. It wasn’t to protect himself – hell, people would probably think he was nuts anyways, but it was mostly to protect Alton and his family. Because, there was ALWAYS a ‘just in case’ scenario, and frankly Paul felt that Alton’s family had been through enough.

Finally getting the card to work right, Paul opened the door to his room and flipped on the light switch.

The room wasn’t the greatest, but he didn’t need it to be. He’d only be staying one night before heading to the facility.

He grunted and listened to his coworker on the other line for a few more minutes as he pushed the door closed with his ass and went more into the room to set his stuff down. Briefcase, backpack and duffel placed on the bed – gently as the duffel held his laptop bag, not just a few days worth of clothes and necessities, the tall dark haired man looked around the room with narrowed eyes. 

“Hey give me a second,” Paul put down his phone, ignoring the small sound of surprise from his coworker that came with it. The agent made a closer inspection of the room, noting that there weren’t any bugs that he could see (digital or insect), but it was always good practice to check. He took up his phone again. “Continue, just got done checking the room for vocal bugs.”

At his coworker’s sudden ranting, Paul rolled his eyes and waited for a long moment before he broke in, “Of course I am _paranoid_. Why do you think I work with you day in and day out unless I am called in to do something special?”

After another few minutes, Paul rubbed the bridge of his nose, pushing up his glasses tiredly. “Ok, well, I am going to turn in for a few hours. I have an early morning. I’ll keep you posted if I am able.”

Huffing out a slow sigh as the call ended, Paul turned and wandered over to the windows viewing some really tall trees. It was raining a torrential winter downpour now. He hadn’t been to Portland in ages. Almost fifteen years in fact. The last time he’d been here was when he’d been taking a summer camping trip with his dad.

That had been a simpler, less stressful time.

Pulling his head out of the past, Paul gave the rain and trees another look before heading to his duffel to unpack a few things. He nearly jumped a foot when a flash of lightning illuminated the room brightly and a resulting clap of thunder shook the whole motel. 

Ok then. That was _new._

Granted, thunderstorms weren’t as rare in the pacific northwest of the continental US as some people would like to think, and Paul really wasn’t a stranger to lightning, but that had been close. And this was _JANUARY_. It wasn’t quite cold enough to snow, but sleet and freezing rain was definitely in the forecast for the next few days around here. Where he was headed, however, there was snow in the forecast. Rubbing the back of his head a bit, Paul again thought about this current investigation.

Why of all times would one of the US Government’s top secret labs need his expertise?

True, Paul really wasn’t bothered by the fact that he was considered more of an expert when it came to strange occurrences, but this was a bit ridiculous. The lab supposedly fronted as an environmental facility on the northern outskirts of the Gifford Pinchot National Forest. It was going to be hell getting up there with all of the snow near Mount Saint Helens and Mount Adams, but at least the NSA hadn’t skirted on getting him help in that regard.

He was going to get picked up tomorrow at five in the morning by some Army specialists and escorted to the facility. Regular four wheel drive trucks would be fine going up to Northwoods (or Cougar), Washington. But, depending on the weather afterwards, they might have to rough it by military vehicles if the scheduled helicopter was grounded, regardless if the roads were closed or not. Or, there were always snowmobiles, though Paul had never been on one in his entire life.

Camping aside, his family had normally hibernated during the winter months. About the only time they had went out for any kind of snow fun was to do some cross country skiing or sledding. 

After Paul took a hot shower and went over his notes (which was almost nonexistent since a whole lot of nothing had been debriefed to him before he was told to pack up and come to Portland), the man took off his glasses and set them on the end table near the king sized bed. The bed itself was a bit lumpy, but he’d slept on worse surfaces before. At least his long legs would have ample room to stretch themselves out. Being a tall person like he was, Paul was often having to fold himself in and out of places much too small for his body. It sucked, but he was used to it.

Closing his eyes, Paul tried to quiet his mind and get some sleep.

Who knew when he might have another decent night of rest once he arrived at the facility. Paul was the type of person to see things through until the very end. Once he got deep in an investigation, he never gave it up easily until every single resource was exhausted, or the mysteries were solved to the best of their ability – much like a bloodhound gnawing on a juicy bone. 

Alton had been the first and only time Paul had ever given up on a case. But, it wasn’t like he didn’t have good reasons for doing so.

Paul wasn’t naïve to think it would be the only time he’d give up in the future.

There were some mysteries that just weren’t solvable, regardless of how intelligent Paul was or anyone else with an extremely high IQ and affinity with numbers.

### Chapter One: Techie

The wind howled as a thick blanket of snow drifted this way and that during the night near the off the grid government laboratory nestled deep in the forest. If one was unlucky to be outside in the thick blizzard like conditions, they would have almost no visibility save for the few tall light poles illuminating the facility. They were due for another foot of snow by morning. 

Luckily, the facility had several backup generators just in case the power fluctuated during any storm, regardless of the type. 

Deep within the heart of the lab was a tormented and restless mind. The male it belonged to was calm for the most part. He had been heavily sedated, but Techie could still hear the wind howling outside. His ears were more sensitive than a human’s, as were his eyes, which blinked up at the high ceiling of the room he was currently in. White walls surrounded him on all sides, though there was a long rectangular observation window cut into the mid part of one. The one and only door to the room was heavily bolted and only accessible by key card and a thumb print scanner. 

Techie knew this.

Just like he knew just how long it had been since he’d been captured. 

Perhaps his brother had been right all those years ago. Maybe he was too curious for his own good. Licking his chapped, full lips, the male once again tested his restraints, though he knew that they would hold strong. Drugged like this, Techie wasn’t able to do much besides wish away the hours by himself. 

Being alone sometimes was a blessing, however.

At least there were no needles, no painfully loud machines or voices, no bright lights shined in his vibrant electric blue eyes, no scissors going for his almost completely translucent wings. 

If he hadn’t been drugged, Techie could have possibly short circuited the cameras, and the alarm systems. Possibly even disable the entire electrical system and it’s backup generators. But, he hadn’t yet figured out how to disable the door to his prison unfortunately. Nor, had he figured out a way on how to get the shock collar off of his neck either. 

He never understood what it was about him that caused the humans to be so _frightened_ of him. So frightened that it warranted this horrible treatment of his person. In all the time he’d been on Earth, he’d never once tried to harm a human. Kriff, the only reason why he was in the lab now was due to the fact that someone had seen him prevent a stray cat from getting creamed on a busy street in Vancouver, Washington. All he had done was reach out with his hand and cause the cars to stop until the little feline had safely gotten to a nearby sidewalk. 

Techie wasn’t stupid by any sense of the imagination. He knew there was always a risk that these strange humans might not accept him because he was different from them, but he hadn’t counted on the fact that they would grow so afraid of him. Afraid of apparently the unknown. 

He had been apprehended by the police, who then in turn had to hand him over to another human organization they called the FBI. And now he was here. It felt strange that he’d been in this place for a total of six months, eight days, nine hours, and fifteen minutes. 

At first, there had been a few tests done, and though Techie didn’t like needles, had allowed the poking and prodding. He’d also willingly talked with a few doctors and FBI agents, learning English quickly and not minding their interest. Humans always seemed to be fascinated by the unexplained and the unknown. 

Techie had let them do everything they wanted for the first few days, with the stipulation that he’d be let go as soon as their tests were done. Everything had gone fine, until he found out their true purpose. 

They had lied to him. 

Some small part in the back of his mind, Techie had known it from the beginning - had known that these particular humans wanted him to be their lab rat, to be their study subject. He wouldn’t ever be allowed to live freely amongst the humans again. 

It was a pity.

He quite liked most earthlings that he had encountered ever since he’d arrived some seven months ago. But, the fact that they feared him so much, and were treating him like a pariah, at the same time wanting to take his body apart piece by piece to find out more about his home world and his kin – it was appalling and downright frightening to Techie. Apparently humans feared the unknown and unexplained just as much as they were fascinated by it. 

Techie was usually a patient, gentle person.

But these people he had begun to _hate_.

With their lies, their endless tests, their forced imprisonment of his person, Techie started loathing them. And once the loathing started, with his patience shot to hell, he had said no to one test. Just one, and that had given them the excuse they felt they needed to clip his wings to keep him from flying, strap him down, drug him (of which he still was trying to figure out how in the kriff they knew what to use in order to drug him in the first place), and put a horrible thick plated shock collar around his throat. 

That had been five months, twenty days, six hours, and five minutes ago. Ever since then the tests had gone more vile and intense. The days and nights almost blurred together with the fact that there were no windows showing the outside world. As time passed, the more fearful and hopeless Techie became. 

Granted, he knew quite well that not all humans were like this. 

But, he was almost quite fed up with these particular humans. He wanted to be free.

He didn’t mean any earthling harm, and nor did his kin. 

Homesickness was something Techie wasn’t used to feeling, considering he’d had a rough upbringing. But, he couldn’t help wishing for the cool sea air on his skin, the salty tang of fried kisha , the smell of fresh flowering plants on the nearby cliffs of his home. His older brother’s familiar comforting feathers touching his as they perched on backless chairs.

He guessed he should be thankful that the humans allowed him to walk around with just his wrists bound during the day. But, they never let him outside. They said it was due to some of the tests they were doing on him, but Techie knew better now. He knew that if he was stuck inside, the less likely would there be of him making a run for it, or worse, calling attention to himself by screaming, not like anyone would hear him. The nearest community was several miles to the south west. 

Regardless, the shock collar never came off.

Even when Techie was allowed to bathe in privacy, the shock collar stayed on. Apparently it was water proof.

Closing his tired eyelids, Techie sighed, wishing with all his heart that something would happen to allow him to be free. Something or someone to save him from this misery.

Small, blue tears streaked down his face and he sniffed, hating his fear, hating his weakness. He’d always been the soft one in his family. Too curious of the unknown, too soft and loving, too trusting. Sniffing a bit more, he closed his eyes and let out a soft wail, mentally asking for anyone to help, though he knew it was useless.

_Please help me. Please, I want to go home._

\----------------------------

Paul let out a deep relieved sigh once he saw the facility come into view. Hell, that had been one exhausting 10 hour commute. If this was the summertime, then Paul and his escorts probably would have gotten here at least four hours earlier. Instead, their scheduled helicopter had been grounded, and they had ended up having to go the rest of the way from Northwoods in army vehicles. Luckily, the armored vehicles had been able to get up the dangerous snow covered terrain up to the lab. Otherwise the team would have gone on snowmobiles. Or at worst case scenario, they would have had to have snowshoed or skied the rest of the way.

The snow hadn’t let up much except for in strange intervals, so Paul felt like his ass was made of a thick block of ice. His whole body was cold. About the only place that wasn’t was his left pinky toe, which for some reason was still warm. Thankfully prepared for almost anything, Paul had packed thick winter hiking boots and had some thick layers of clothing on, otherwise he would have frozen half to death on their journey.

It hadn’t helped that he’d had the strangest dream the night before. He could have sworn someone had been calling to him in his sleep, asking for help. The voice had seemed so real, so pitiful and wretched, it still tugged at Paul’s heartstrings. Not being much of a stranger to weird dreams or nightmares, this had been the first time that he’d actually heard someone he didn’t know calling for him.

He’d dreamed of his parents, even his baby sister screaming at him to help. Ever since the train derailment freak accident had killed all three some ten years prior, Paul had had reoccurring nightmares and strange dreams with them being main features. But, this time, this had been different. His parents hadn’t been there nor his sister. 

Just someone with the most beautiful, sorrow filled blue eyes, long ginger hair, pale freckled skin, and blue tears. 

Rubbing his glasses to keep them from fogging up once Paul and his escorts went through security and were able to get inside the huge facility, he stomped his boots and discarded chunks of snow off of them on a thick mat in the entry way. There was a long hallway leading to other various hallways, some leading to offices, others leading to small lab rooms, and still others leading to living quarters, a kitchen and mess hall, bathrooms, and again more lab rooms. Paul was observant by nature – not just by the training he’d received in his line of work, and made sure to keep a close eye on every single turn they took and every single door they went through. 

Finally they reached a huge doorway that led to another hallway, though this one had several thick metal walls. It almost made Paul pause, thinking that they were walking in a bomb shelter. They came to a door on the left which led to some living quarters. That was where he met the head of the facility, Dr. Madrigal. 

She shook his hand a bit stiffly, but otherwise the welcome wasn’t cold. Her smile was a bit criminal looking, but that could be just the way she smiled to strangers. Paul was far from ignorant however. He knew how to read people. He just wasn’t that good at talking with them, unless it dealt with physics, math, science, and the like. 

Even then it was hard to speak up unless it was in the midst of coworkers he’d worked with for a long time, feeling somewhat awkward and socially shy with all other occurrences. But, so far that hadn’t stopped him from getting to where he wanted to be in life. 

“Good to finally meet you, Mr. Sevier,” The doctor said, nodding at the door to his left. “There you will find a place to rest while you are assisting us here. I hope you will find things adequate, and if you need anything, just give any one of the assistants a call and they will help you.”

In other words, don’t call _her_. Duly noted.

“Thank you,” Paul said, offering a small benign smile. “I am sure I’ll manage fine.”

He was here to do his job, not interfere with the operations at the lab – whatever operations those were.

“Good,” The doctor said, “I will leave you to get settled. One of the officers will escort you to the main lab in an hour. I would give you more time to adjust and explore, but we are on a schedule here.”

“Understood, I’ll do my adjusting and exploring later,” This time Paul truly smiled, not daunted in the least by the doctor’s abrupt attitude. 

“See that you do,” Madrigal nodded stiffly before handing him a thick folder. “I am sure I don’t have to tell you not to go sharing this information with anyone outside of this facility, do I?”

“Of course not. My instructions, though meager, were specific to point out that the ongoing investigation is information sensitive and of level five secrecy,” Paul arched a brow. He may look young, but he wasn’t an amateur and this wasn’t his first rodeo.

The doctor looked him over a bit before she steeled her eyes and smirked, “Good. Then I am sure you will find your stay _enlightening_. I will see you in one hour.”

After the strange direct doctor left, Paul shook his head a bit. Some people that worked in labs like these didn’t get out much, if at all. Then again, it wasn’t like he was one to talk. He hardly got out much when he was on an investigation either.

Heading into his new living quarters for the undefined foreseeable future, Paul put his duffel, backpack and briefcase on the small desk. He’d unpack later. Looking around carefully, Paul noted that there were at least five vocal bugs in the room. Apparently the government took the gag order very seriously here. He wouldn’t be surprised if his cell got no reception here either unless on a secure but surveilled wifi network. Licking his lips and shrugging, not caring much if he had no privacy at this point, Paul went over and checked out the bed.

It was a double, so his legs were going to be hanging off of the end unless he propped them up on the chair near the small desk, but Paul didn’t mind. At least there was a place to put his head when he was forced to rest.

Otherwise the room was bare save for a few framed drab modern art pictures. The walls themselves were white.

Definitely a lab type of setting, though at least this one had pictures.

Getting his backpack ready to go, pausing to get a small health bar out to munch on, he figured he had another fifty minutes before he needed to leave the room. With a small huff, Paul headed for the small bathroom to relieve himself and clean up a bit. Starring at himself in the mirror, Paul snorted.

He looked like he’d been out in a blizzard.

Ruffling his hair a bit and combing it down with his fingers, Paul figured there wasn’t else much he could do about his appearance. Plus, it wasn’t like he was there to impress anyone. He was there to do his job and that would be that. Coming out of the bathroom, Paul took up the thick folder, arching a brow at the old type writer type letters spelling out ‘Project Blue Fox’. 

The nerd ever present inside his psyche thought about roleplaying games, not to mention how creepily similar this place was starting to feel like it should be on the X-Files. With a soft huff, Paul pushed up his glasses higher on the bridge of his nose and opened the folder to start perusing the extensive file.

After reading a few lines in, Paul nearly dropped the folder onto the ground.

Taking in a deep breath, the tall dark haired man sat down onto the small chair near the desk woodenly. 

No wonder they wanted his ‘expertise’. 

The male shown in the picture right behind the first page was the beautiful creature who had cried out for help in his dream last night. 

First Alton, and now him.

The doctors had called him _Blue Fox_ because of his vibrant fox fur colored hair and the four almost completely translucent delicate pale blue glowing wings sprouting from his shoulder blades and spine. Something deep inside Paul protested against the name, though it was an apt description of the creature. Despite how apt it was, this name wasn’t correct. The fiery haired extraterrestrial’s name was ‘Techie’. Paul wasn’t sure how he knew that, but he would dwell on that thought later.

Right now, Paul had to read.

And read he did.

\----------------------------------------------------------

Less than an hour later had Paul entering a clinical looking observation room with a huge window in the middle of one wall. Various computers were set up in the room, but there was no lab equipment present. Through the glass, Paul could see a large lab brightly lit by florescent lights hanging from the ceiling. There were tables, desks, and chairs on all sides of the lab, though in the center was an open area that held a few clinical hospital looking beds. 

Near one of the beds was the male from his dream, sitting on a backless stool, dressed in a set of neon yellow scrubs that looked much too big for his slender frame. Paul could barely see the outline of Techie’s wings, figuring that it might be a camouflage effect. Or the wings could be a totally new color that humans couldn’t actually see – just the hint of them being ice blue. The extraterrestrial was currently propping his slipper adorned feet underneath the stool, his hands folded in his lap, head down submissively.

Regardless of the submissive act, Paul could see that the male was still attentive to his surroundings, though he looked sad and fearful – almost like he had no hope. 

“Don’t let his meekness fool you, Mr. Sevier,” Dr. Madrigal commented dryly with a small smirk. “Out of all of his kind we have been able to discover and apprehend, he’s the calmest, but he is definitely no weakling.”

“The other subjects were bigger, more dominant,” Paul commented, pulling out his notebook to jot a few details down.

“Indeed. I believe this is the first one we’ve been able to find that is submissive.” The doctor nodded before saying pointedly, “You reviewed the report?”

“Mmm, glanced through the basics. I will read more in depth later,” Paul said. 

“Very well. You may visit with him if you like, but for today I think it would be best if you kept outside of the lab. We’ll use the shock collar and drugs if we must, but we’d rather not do that while running some of our tests,” Madrigal then arched a sardonic eyebrow, as Paul broke in softly, “Plus, it would be best if possible to have him talk to me with a clear head.”

“Then, I would suggest not to startle him,” The doctor then motioned to a door on the right, “Through there is another room that has ceiling to floor windows on three sides. He’s usually the calmest when he can see you fully, and it’ll be the best we can do for today. Once you are situated in there, one of the doctors will lead him into the adjacent room so both of you will have some one on one time. We of course will be recording everything for our own observational purposes.”

“Of course,” Paul nodded in understanding. 

Madrigal then narrowed her eyes thoughtfully and stated very plainly, “If you get him to trust you, then that, would be the best outcome. I know you aren’t a psychologist, and we didn’t want one here, but we do need him to allow us to proceed with electromagnetic testing. Despite being alien, the US government is not willing to proceed with the tests unless Blue Fox agrees to it. However, it’s not expected for you to win over Blue Fox easily. Blue Fox might be a manipulative little alien shit, but he’s not stupid. He might be curious about you, and might want to get you to break him out of here before our tests have been completed, but don’t expect him to open up easily.”

“I will keep that in mind as your opinion, doctor,” However, he was definitely going to make his own assessment. “Those tests, would they hurt him?”

“Your job isn’t to assess that,” The doctor gritted her teeth irritably.

“No, but it is my _job_ to ensure I don’t betray his trust. My orders were specific to ensure that the extraterrestrial was of sound mind and understanding of what the tests actually would do to him before taking his cooperation,” Paul pushed up his glasses up on the bridge of his nose. This so called ‘doctor’ might be a scientist, but she was also a cold hearted bitch. There was no way in hell he was going to sanction tests that could end up destroying Techie, especially if the act was incredibly painful.

He was well within his right to request this information.

The doctor scowled for a long moment before her expression smoothed back to her semi cold brusqueness. “Very well. The tests might make him feel uncomfortable, but they won’t hurt him. We just want to see if he is a danger to the US government, same as you do.”

_Bullshit._

Paul narrowed his eyes further but didn’t comment. Instead he watched as the doctor went to the door and opened it on the right side. Taking the wordless hint as dismissal, the tall dark haired man huffed out a soft sigh and headed into the room. There was a stool there, but nothing else. On the other adjoining room in front of him was basically the same.

With a soft huff, Paul sat down and nodded for Madrigal to shut the door. He was ready as he ever was going to be.

\--------------------------------------------

Techie walked into the room, curious in spite of himself. The last time he’d been in this particular room it had been not long after he’d been brought to the lab. The lead doctor had been facing him in the adjoining room, and had asked several questions. This time, however, there was someone without the now familiar garb of scrubs or lab coats. Dressed in a strange arrangement of black slacks, black boots, grey tweed coat and navy blue plaid button down shirt, the human man was definitely different. 

Techie could tell the man was tall with the way he folded himself on the stool in front of him. Though the man looked like he had been ready to rise as Techie was lead into the adjacent room, he must have thought better of it and relaxed. There was a yellow notebook propped on his crossed legs, and his hands looked so big, even from here. Running his eyes quickly up to gaze at the man’s facial features, he felt a sense of warmth flood through him, making him flush slightly. Moles and freckles were scattered over the man’s face, his black wavy hair was groomed, though looked a bit damp, and the locks teased his characteristic larger than average ears. The intriguing nose, brown eyes and facial features gave the man a rather oddly attractive look. 

Techie found he liked it. Liked it a _lot_. Even the thick black framed glasses didn’t take from the man’s overall handsomeness.

Feeling his wings fluff up against his back a bit, Techie took in a few deep breaths and looked down at his lap, feeling shy and nervous. Those eyes had been kind, and Techie couldn’t help but peek more looks through his eyelashes at the human. 

For a moment nothing was said, but then Paul huffed out an awkward cough. Then he cleared his throat again and said, “Hello Te-Blue Fox. My name is Paul Sevier and I am an analyst with the NSA or National-” 

“Security Agency,” Techie whispered softly, then flushing when he’d realized he’d interrupted the human. He looked up in a sudden panic, feeling embarrassed and uneasy, “I am sorry. That was r-rude.”

“You know English….” Paul couldn’t help the awe coming out in his voice even if he’d wanted to. “Did they teach you? And, it’s ok. Feel free to break in whenever you feel it necessary.”

Techie nodded slowly, “I know English and S-Spanish. But they didn’t teach me, I just learned. Your vocal languages aren’t so different from those on my own planet.”

“ _Fascinating_ ,” Paul breathed, before he mentally shook himself and started jotting down some notes. After a moment, Paul raised his gaze to meet Techie’s, almost drowning in the resulting staring match. The male’s eyes were so vibrant a blue, almost as if there were electric currents running through them. 

Techie could get lost in those soft brown hazel eyes. Finally breaking the eye contact, Paul coughed lightly and asked softly, “If you know of the NSA, then did they tell you I was coming?”

“Yes, but they didn’t tell me who you were or why you were coming,” Techie admitted, chewing on his bottom lip. His wings itched and before he could stop himself, Techie had already reached around to rub at some clipped feathers. He’d pluck them out if he knew that his captors wouldn’t clip the new feathers growing in.

He felt the gaze of the human man and instantly turned back to him, feeling more awkward. “Sorry, they have them clipped short so they kind of i-itch.”

“Did they give you a reason why they clipped them?” Paul asked, feeling anger flood through his veins. It was bad enough having Techie be basically a lab rat for the government, captive against his will. It was another thing entirely to have the poor creature hobbled so. 

“They wanted to check to see if my feathers had fast regenerative properties,” Techie deadpanned, and Paul caught the sarcasm for what it was, and he felt his lips twitch in spite of himself.

The extraterrestrial had spunk, he had to admit.

“You don’t believe them?” Paul jotted some more notes down.

Techie snorted and rolled his eyes. Pulling his legs up to prop strangely on the stool, Techie wrapped his arms around his knees and laid his cheek to rest on one wrist. Though it could have very well been orchestrated to look sad and pathetic looking, Paul strangely understood that the male was truly sad and despairing. 

“I don’t know what to believe anymore. They said I was going to be able to go home after some tests were done, but that was five months ago,” Techie admitted, feeling his eyes tear up slightly, not knowing why but feeling like he could tell this man anything – his deepest, darkest fears and desires, and not be judged or treated poorly.

Still, Techie had been fooled before.

He had to make sure he wasn’t fooled again.

Paul sighed softly and admitted, “I am not sure if they will be able to let you go home just yet, Techie. Soon perhaps, after their final tests are done and once the US government decides you aren’t a threat. Which is why I am here: to find out if you mean Earth no harm.”

Suddenly shock registered all over Techie’s face, and Paul winced. Shit, so that _WAS_ his name. 

“How did you….? _How_ did you know my name? My _real_ name?” Techie breathed, suddenly really and truly afraid. His fear caused his shock collar to beep warningly. Kriff, his blood pressure was rising. He needed to calm down.

“I am not sure. You look like a Techie. Odd guess maybe?” Paul arched a brow, keeping his voice calm and collected. Then he soothed further, “I had this weird dream last night, about you asking me for help. That was you, wasn’t it?”

Paul didn’t see any harm in telling Techie or the recording the truth. Techie’s file had said nothing of telepathy or dream manipulation, but Paul knew that Madrigal would take it as if he was trying to get the extraterrestrial to trust him. Nothing more. In all previous subjects that unfortunately made their way into Madrigal’s hands, there had been no documented cases of telepathy being used. 

Techie forced himself to calm down. Taking in deep breaths, the ginger calmed enough to whisper, “Yes, that was – that was m-me. And, and I don’t mean you any harm – any of you. I just wanted to _visit_. That’s all.”


End file.
